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For someone who is quite Windows computer savvy, but no experience with VPNs, which startup VPN would you recommend. What will it cost?
Thanks to all who respond 
Ok, I have had my coffee, so you can all come out now!
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See if it gives the country of your choice... I don't have bad experiences with VPNs generally speaking..
Look for the cheapest one.
I see Windscrine can be availed USD 3 a month on monthly contracts. SurfShark runs great rate cut deals.
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Depends what you're looking for. Do you want something like NordVPN that you "proxy" through to say Amazon, or are you looking for VPN Client/Server to set up a VPN connection among you and your clients/distributed office? If the latter, then OpenVPN/Access server might be a solution for you. Business VPN For Secure Networking
"A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants"
Chuckles the clown
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Back in the day, nobody talked about VPNs until all these online services came out. Now it's a buzzword.
I don't use one, but just feel obligated to mention if you're getting a third party VPN for security... don't. If you're worried about security when accessing public wifi, etc. you better off rolling your own.
That being said, if you want a VPN to bypass region locks or regional website testing, then by all means they're great.
Jeremy Falcon
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For vanilla surfing, no concerns about tracking, etc, TOR is free.
For encryption, etc. I use Proton, from free to semi expensive depending on what you bundle it with. I use their email as well.
>64
It’s weird being the same age as old people. Live every day like it is your last; one day, it will be.
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I use ExpressVPN. It works well and gives me no hassles. They recently dropped updates for Windows 7 (and probably 8 I suppose) so you will need W10 or later from now on. however, when I complained about a wireless issue with a new adapter they sent me a Windows 7 version that fixed the issue and it works fine. Good support.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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I've been using NordVPN[^] for about ten years now and swear by (not at) it.
/ravi
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I have never understood what people would use a VPN for.
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The marketing for them says security, but they're no more secure than not using one (the way most people use them). But, it's marketing so you know how that goes.
So, there's....
- Security (not true but marketing)
- Getting around region locking so you can watch Netflix shows, etc. not for your region.
- It's good for global website and network routing testing. Of course, you can do this without a VPN if you have servers to bounce traffic around, but for the average person.
It's just marketing. People will buy anything as long as there's an ad for it. IMO #2 and #3 are the only valid reasons to use one as they make it much simpler to deal with regions.
Jeremy Falcon
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This.
I've found the more paranoid and less technical people are, the more likely it is they use or want to use a VPN. They either don't understand how they work, or what it can or cannot do for them.
They never know how to respond when I explain that internet services aren't without cost, especially if they're going to route all their traffic through a server in Finland they're not paying for. How do they monetize that, especially when they let you use it for free? Same way as everybody else they're trying to hide from.
IMO, if nothing else, the very act of running a VPN raises a red flag - the opposite of what you're trying to achieve. So even though I'm (somewhat) privacy conscious, I don't.
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Not to mention, as far as industries go, most of the "reviews" you see online will have links to sign up for said service. Finding truly unbiased info when there's money to be made (in any industry) is easier said than done.
It's been well known that a man in the middle attack can break SSL. Most traffic sniffers do this intentionally. So, end-to-end encryption isn't perfect. What a VPN manages to do, is hide this process from you.  As they can install whatever they want with their software. And there are still other attacks a hacker can do on a VPN.
Not to mention, just like with your ISP, then the VPN will still know all websites you visit. They can collect demographics about you, just like your ISP. While technically in TLS/SSL query string params are encrypted, the base URL isn't. So, they can always tell which sites you visit and how often just like your ISP already knows.
Point being, it's not the holy grail as far as security is concerned. To the average person, they can cloak you, which I guess is cool. So, if that's all that's meant by security then cool. And it does offload the traffic logs from your ISP, but there's zero gain if the VPN isn't outside the jurisdiction of any federal agencies.
I'm just being pedantic because I don't like false beliefs based on marketing designed to get your money. 
Jeremy Falcon
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Not pedantic at all. VPNs buy you a false sense of security.
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Connecting to the free world!
Behzad
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Some anti-virus packages come with a built-in VPN. I use Norton 360 on my home computers, and the VPN is useful both for spoofing my location and for security.
AIUI, an online VPN is not much use for security, because the segment between you and the VPN node may still be spied upon. Look for a package that has a local component that does the encryption (i.e. the packets are encrypted from your computer until they leave the VPN).
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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I've used ExpressVPN before. Good service, but pricey. Switched to NordVPN - almost half the price - and I'm happy with it. No issues so far.
Why I use it?
1. Netflix - like having U.S. programs as an alternative to German ones (hate hearing Morgan Freeman speaking German)
2. Accessing media from other countries, which restrict content to locals
3. Hiding my ip, for privacy reasons - tracking, advertising, etc.
4. Occasionally downloading (usually books, sometimes apps, to check on a VM) from the gray zones, and avoiding (I hope) to have my ISP watching over my shoulder
As I don't communicate regularly with Mossad, CIA or KGB, I'm not using VPN for security reasons. I'm also not trying to break into other countries' servers - I live it to the CIA: they're so much better at it!
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Luschan wrote: As I don't communicate regularly with Mossad, CIA or KGB, I'm not using VPN for security reasons. I'm also not trying to break into other countries' servers - I live it to the CIA: they're so much better at it!
I don't (to my knowledge) have anything to do with official secrets or the intelligence services either, but there is such a thing as commercial IP. My work computer has a VPN that includes a component that encrypts the data from my computer through to the work network.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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That is an entire different story! My work computer uses Cisco / Anyconnect VPN. I don’t pay for it, it wasn’t my choice (horrible and expensive) and I am forced to used it (to connect to work network). It rarely works, for short periods, for some people. Everybody has problems with this disease, which the corporate IT department cannot fix! However, I think this is a different subject altogether.
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That's interesting! My workplace uses OpenVPN on a pfSense firewall/router. It works flawlessly, and has for years. And, it's FREE!
Da Bomb
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If you're looking for a VPN to hide your "grey" activity or to get round geo-locking I can (highly) recommend VPN Unlimited from Keep Solid. They often have special offers on subscriptions making their price unbeatable. Their plan allows for up to 4 devices at a time (IIRC). VPN Unlimited - Fast & Secure VPN service
On the other hand if you are looking to "phone home" or set up a small system for itinerant users you can try Softether VPN which is very easy to set up and maintain, and is completely free - however they currently have a bug for android clients, but with a workaround. SoftEther VPN Project - SoftEther VPN Project
So old that I did my first coding in octal via switches on a DEC PDP 8
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Thanks for all the responses. What I learnt, ist that I am probably better off without a VPN! ![Java | [Coffee]](https://www.codeproject.com/script/Forums/Images/coffee.gif)
Ok, I have had my coffee, so you can all come out now!
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I used to think there was no state other than unconsciousness in which I couldn't code.
I was wrong.
COVID has laid me right up in that respect. 
Update: Was up and down all night. Actually fell asleep in the friggin bathtub. Since I am bored and I don't have any energy to do things like housework I decided to try my hand at coding again. I managed to update some makefiles and massage enough code to get it working with MSVC as well as GCC. It's slow going but I'm doing it!
Check out my IoT graphics library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx
And my IoT UI/User Experience library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix
modified 27-Aug-24 10:15am.
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![Rose | [Rose]](https://www.codeproject.com/script/Forums/Images/rose.gif)
Yeah, I found the same.
Get well soon, drink loads of fluids, stay warm and (probably) in bed. Sleeping seemed to help.
It can also attack your haemoglobin leading it to be worse in transporting oxygen, and this can last for weeks after the disease is gone. If you get that, you'll know - your stamina will plummet, and the effort of thinking hard (which coding requires) will give you a headache because it increases the O2 requirement of the brain. If you get that, stop! If you try to "think through" it, you can kill off brain cells and you really don't want that!
And just to be entertaining, about 25% of covid suffers experience hair loss - mine came out in handfuls every time I showered for weeks after and even three years later it's still growing back in ...
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I've got some of my stamina back today. I'm not quite up for say, housework, but I've even coded a little.
Check out my IoT graphics library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx
And my IoT UI/User Experience library here:
https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix
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